High density cotton picker bar and spindle assembly therefor

ABSTRACT

A picker bar includes spindles which are nonaligned in the vertical direction to define two or more offset sets of spindles on the bar and increase the number of spindles per unit length of the spindle bar. A spindle assembly includes a support carrying two spindles driven from a picker bar drive shaft by a single drive gear. Driven spindle gears are spaced on opposite sides of the shaft axis to facilitate close spacing of the spindles. A doffer column includes doffer pads of differing diameters to optimize doffing of the offset sets of spindles.

This is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 11/058,150 filed 15 Feb. 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,650,735.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesters and more specifically to spindle picker bars for cotton picker row units.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cotton harvesters often have a row unit structure with picker drums rotatable about upright axes adjacent a row-receiving area of the unit. The drum includes a plurality of upright picker bars having spindles which rotate in contact with cotton plants to remove the cotton. Corresponding spindles on the bars define generally horizontal spindle planes, with a typical drum having eighteen to twenty spindle planes. Doffers which rotate between the spindle planes in contact with the spindles to doff cotton wound on the spindles and direct the cotton towards air door structure for removal from the unit towards a basket or processor.

A conventional picker bar includes a single row of spindles spaced uniformly in the vertical direction. Each spindle includes a gear end engaged by a mating bevel gear located on an upright spindle drive shaft supported for rotation within a hollow portion of the bar. The spacing between the spindle planes and thus the density of the spindles on the picker bar is limited by the spindle support and spindle drive arrangement. Currently available drive shaft bevel gear and the spindle nut mounting arrangements prevent closer spacing of spindles. Therefore, increasing the spindle density for increased drum productivity while maintaining the reliability of the spindle, spindle bar and spindle drive has heretofore been a continuing source of difficulty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A picker bar includes spindles which are nonaligned in the vertical direction to define two or more offset sets of spindles on the bar and facilitate closer vertical spacing of the spindles. The number of spindles per unit length of the spindle bar is thereby increased to provide more spindles in the pick zone for increased productivity.

In one embodiment of the invention, two spindles of a twin spindle assembly are driven by a central gear which, in turn, is driven by bevel gear mounted to the picker bar driveshaft. The two spindles are mounted at an angle to the vertical plane of the bar to define two vertical planes of spindles. The reduced number of drive gears on the drive shaft allows an increased total number of spindles on each picker bar and provides an increased number of horizontal spindle planes. The spindle plane spacing for the pair of spindles may be different than the spacing between planes for adjacent spindles in adjacent pairs, and doffing with such spacing is achieved with a doffer column having two different sizes or spacing of doffer pads.

Various drives, including a crossed helical drive, double shaft drive, spiral bevel gear drive, or a hypoid gear set can be utilized to achieve more than one vertical plane of spindles on a spindle bar. Two or more picker spindle planes lying on either side of the central axis of the bar allows the horizontal distance between the two closest pick zones to be reduced. With helical or hypoid type gear drives, the spindle planes may be offset from a parallel relationship. For example, by slightly angling the planes relative to one another, horizontal spindle distribution in the pick zone can be improved.

In an embodiment of the invention, two vertical planes of spindles on a spindle bar are offset from the central axis of the bar. As the bar is rotated on this axis by the cam in the doffing zone, the relation of the spindle to the doffer varies from one spindle of the pair to the other. A unique doffer arrangement having doffers of two different diameters optimizes the critical positional relationship between the spindles and the doffers for the spindles in the doffing zone.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description below and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cotton picker bar.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a portion of a cotton picker row unit including the picker bar of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 an enlarged view, partially exploded and in section, showing a portion of the picker bar of FIG. 1 and the spindle support and drive arrangement.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an alternate drive arrangement for the spindles.

FIG. 5 is a top view of an alternate embodiment of a cotton picker bar having two spindle drive shafts.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, therein is shown a portion of a cotton picker row unit 6 having a picker spindle drum 8 with picker spindle bar assemblies 10. A doffer assembly 11 with doffer pads 11 a and 11 b is supported in the row unit adjacent the path of the picker bar assemblies 10. Each picker bar assembly 10 includes a hollow picker bar 12 with an upper end 14 adapted for journaling in the row unit drum head and receiving a cast cam follower arm 16. A spindle drive shaft 18 is rotatably mounted in the hollow picker bar 12. A driven gear 20 is fixed to the upper end of the shaft 18 for meshing with a conventional drive gear such as sun gear (see 21 of FIG. 5).

The picker bar assembly 10 includes at least two sets 22 a and 22 b of spindles 22 having axes of rotation 22 c. As can be appreciated from the figures, the two sets of spindles 22 a and 22 b are nonaligned in the vertical direction and are offset on opposite sides of the drive shaft 18. The follower arm 16 is seated in a cam track 24 (FIG. 2) to properly orient the bar 12 during harvesting so that the spindles 22 are maintained in a preselected attitude when removing cotton from the plants and when passing by the doffer assembly 11 and a conventional moistener pad assembly (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 3, the drive shaft 18 supports bevel pinions 26. Each of the bevel pinions 26 meshes with a pinion 28 on a corresponding spindle assembly 32. The assemblies 32 include a pair of spindles 22 with one of the pair of spindles located in a plane P1 and the other of the pair located in a plane P2. The spindles 22 are rotatably supported in the bar 12 by twin spindle mounting assemblies 36. A plane passing through the axes 22 c of the spindles of a spindle pair is angled with respect to the horizontal so that a spindle pair defines two separate spindle picking planes (for example, see H1, H2 and H3, H4 of FIG. 3). As shown the spindle picking planes are uniformly spaced in the vertical direction. However, other spacing configurations can be provided. For example, it may be advantageous to have a different spacing between spindle planes (H1, H2) for spindles of a spindle pair than the planes (H2, H3) for adjacent spindles on different spindle pairs.

As shown, the upper spindle 22 of each spindle pair lies in the spindle set 22 a while the lower spindle of the pair lies in the spindle set 22 b. The doffer column 11 includes doffer pads 11 a and 11 b. The doffer pads 11 a that doff cotton from the spindle sets 22 a are smaller in diameter than the doffer pads 11 b that doff cotton from the spindle sets 22 b. Since the two vertical planes of spindles on the bar 12 are offset from the central axis of the bar, the relation of the spindle to the doffer varies from one spindle of the pair to the other as the action of the follower arm 16 in the cam track 24 rotates the bar 12. By providing doffers of differing diameter, the angular relation between the spindles 22 being doffed and the rotating doffer pads 11 a and 11 b are optimized for both spindles of the pair in the doffing zone as shown in FIG. 2. The spacing between the individual doffer pads 11 a, 11 b assures proper vertical alignment with the spindle planes H1-H4.

As shown in the drawing figures, the spindles 22 are supported from the picker bar 12 in the upright planes P1 and P2 for rotation by the drive shaft 18. The upright planes P1 and P2 as shown in FIG. 3 are generally parallel and located adjacent but offset from each other. However, if the driving gears for the spindle drive are crossed helical or hypoid type, the planes P1 and P2 may be offset from a parallel relationship. By angling the planes away from or towards one another, horizontal spindle distribution in the pick zone can be optimized.

The twin spindle mounting assemblies 36 for each spindle assembly 32 include a drive gear journal 52 (FIG. 3) with mounting flanges 54 which abut an apertured flat 56 formed on the bar 12. A combination gear 60 includes a cylindrical central portion rotatably supported within the journal 52. The inner end of the combination gear 60 includes the spindle assembly pinion 28, and the journal supports the driven pinion 28 in contact with the drive shaft bevel pinion 26. The opposite end of the combination gear includes a spur gear 62 which projects outwardly from the outer face of the journal 52 which rotates about a gear axis 62 a perpendicular to the axis of the drive shaft 18.

The mounting flanges 54 include diametrically opposed bores 64 rotatatably mounting the driven ends of the two spindles 22. The twin spindle mounting assembly 36 is secured over central journal areas of the spindles 22 and over the drive gear journal 52 by mounting screws threaded into the apertured flat 56. The mounting assembly 36 includes a base 70 with outwardly projecting spindle journal areas 72 with flanges 74 having apertures 76 for receiving the mounting screws 66. The spindles 22 include cylindrical bearing areas 82 received within bushings 84 located in the journal areas 72. The picking ends of the spindles 22 project from the journal areas 72, and dust caps 88 help seal the bearing area.

The driven ends of the spindles 22 include spur gears 92 which mesh with the spur gear 62 to rotate the spindles about their axes 22 c on opposite sides of the axis of the combination gear 62. Cylindrical bearing areas 94 project inwardly towards the bar 12 from the driven end of the spindles 22 and are rotatably supported in the bores 64 of the drive gear journal 52. The journal 52 is supported within a recessed area 102 in the flat 56.

The base 70 is recessed to receive the spindle spur gears 92. A double washer 108 is received over the spindle bearing areas 82 between the spur gears 62, 92 and the recessed portion of the base 70.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a more conventional spindle nut assembly 120 mounts spindles 22′ directly in the spindle bar 12′ on opposite sides of a single spindle drive shaft 18′. Crossed helical drives 122 a and 122 b rotate the spindles 22 in the same direction about the spindle axes from the single shaft 18′. The spindles 22 of the set 22 a and the spindles 22 of the set 22 b are on the opposite sides of the shaft 18′ so the drive 122 a is the opposite hand of that of 122 b so all the spindles rotate in the same direction. The drives 122 a and 122 b include drive gears 126 a and 126 b which can either be formed directly into the drive shaft 18′ or can be separate gears pinned to the shaft. The spindles 22′ including driven ends having driven gears 128 a and 128 b projecting inwardly from the spindle nut assembly 120. Cylindrical bearing areas 134 project axially from the driven ends and are rotatably supported by journal areas 136 formed in the bar 12′.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a double driveshaft bar 12″ provides drive to the two sets of spindles 22 a and 22 b. The sun gear 21 drives a single intermediate gear 140 on the double driveshaft bar 12″. As shown, the intermediate gear 140 is centered between drive shafts 138 a and 138 b and is a combination gear having two gear profiles rotatable about a common gear axis. The first profile engages the sun gear and is sized to provide the proper gear ratio. The second profile is sized to give the desired spacing between the drive shafts 138 a and 138 b. Alternatively, one of the shafts 138 a and 138 b may be driven directly from the gear 21, with the second shaft driven from the first through an intermediate gear to keep the direction of rotation the same for both shafts. In this alternative arrangement, one upright plane of spindles would be aligned with the rotational axis of the bar 12″ and one would be offset from the axis. The arrangement shown in FIG. 5 provides an equal offset for both planes of spindles to facilitate better spindle orientation relative to the doffer column 11. A conventional bevel drive arrangement 150 is utilized between the spindles 22 and the drive shafts 138 a and 138 b.

Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A cotton harvester row unit including picker spindle bar structure having a spindle bar with a central axis and first and second sets of vertically spaced elongated spindles with base portions movable through a doffing zone, the sets of spindles being offset from each other, and a doffer column with first and second sets of vertically offset doffer pads mounted for rotation about a single doffer axis adjacent the first and second sets of vertically spaced spindles, respectively, wherein the base portions of the first set of spindles are offset in closer relationship to the doffer axis than the base portions of the second set of spindles in the doffing zone; and wherein the doffer pads of the second set of doffer pads have a maximum diameter, and the first set of doffer pads have a maximum diameter less than the maximum diameter of the doffer pads of the second set of doffer pads so the doffer pads of both the first and second sets of doffer pads project substantially the entire length of the spindles to the base portions of the respective first and second sets of spindles.
 2. The row unit as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first set of spindles is generally aligned with a first upright plane, and the second set of spindles is generally aligned with a second upright plane offset from the first upright plane, and wherein the differing diameter of the doffer pads provides like doffing, characteristics for each of the sets of the spindles.
 3. The row unit as set forth in claim 1 wherein the spindle bar structure includes a single spindle bar supporting a first drive shaft and a second drive shaft, the first set of spindles driven from the first drive shaft and the second set of spindles driven from the second drive shaft.
 4. The row unit as set forth in claim 1 wherein the spindle bar structure includes spindle mounting structure supporting the spindles in pairs and wherein one of the spindles in each of the pairs comprises one of the spindles in the first set of spindles, and wherein the other of the spindles of the pair comprises one of the spindles of the second set of spindles.
 5. A cotton harvester row unit including picker spindle bar structure having first and second sets of spindles, the sets of spindles being offset from each other and lying generally in first and second vertical planes, respectively, and a doffer column with a first set of vertically spaced doffer pads mounted for rotation adjacent the first of spindles and having a first maximum diameter, and a second set of vertically spaced doffer pads mounted for rotation adjacent the second set of spindles in a doffing zone and having a second maximum diameter, wherein the first maximum diameter of the doffer pads of the first set of doffer pads is less than the second maximum diameter of the doffer pads of the second set of doffer pads, the differing diameter of the doffer pads providing like doffing characteristics in the doffing zone for each of the sets of the spindles.
 6. The row unit as set forth in claim 5 wherein the doffers of the first set of doffer pads each have continuous radially outermost edge portions defining a first cylinder with a diameter equal to the first maximum diameter, the first set of doffer pads projecting to base portion locations of the first set of spindles in the doffing zone and the doffers of the second set of doffer pads each have radially outermost portions defining a second cylinder with a diameter greater than diameter of the first cylinder and projecting to corresponding base portion locations of the second set of spindles in the doffing zone to provide the like doffing characteristics. 